Ba happy to stay a Mag

Demba Ba has reiterated his commitment to Newcastle after a summer of speculation over his future.

Ba came off the bench in last night’s 1-0 friendly defeat to German club Chemnitzer.

The striker has a well-publicised £7m buy-out clause in his contract, and the 26-year-old was heavily linked with a move to Galatasaray last month.

However, Ba moved to end talk of a move after last night’s game, saying: “The fans see me on the pitch – that’s my message to them. In the papers, there’s been a lot of crap!

“Like I said on Twitter, it’s just rumours. People talk, but what I can say is that none of the teams that have been talked about have approached me. I’m still a Newcastle player, and I enjoy putting on a black and white shirt.”

Ba netted 16 goals last season, his first at Newcastle after joining from West Ham, most of them coming in the first few months. He moved to the left side of the attack after compatriot Papiss Cisse joined the club in January, and the goals dried up.

However, the Senegal international is confident he can better last season’s goal tally, and help Newcastle again challenge for a top-four Premier League place.

“I don’t set targets, I just always try to do better than the season before,” he added.

“For the collective, it would be good if we could achieve something great. The most important is being in the Europa League, and doing something great in that competition.

“If we add a couple of players to the squad, then I think we’ll be OK. This season, if we can be around the places we were last season, it will be great.”